Pan American Games History

PAN AMERICAN GAMES

The Pan American Games are held every four years during the year before the Olympic Summer Games. More than forty western hemisphere nations now compete in the event. A maximum of four men and four women may be nominated by any one country for the Pan American Games tennis competition. From those four, a maxi¬mum of three men and three women may compete in the singles competitions, while only one men’s and one women’s doubles team may compete.

There is no higher honor in sport than the opportunity to represent your nation in competition. In tennis, the top athletes from each country have the opportunity to compete annually in Davis Cup (men), Fed Cup (women) and Hopman Cup (co-ed). During the four year span of each Olympiad, tennis players can join their compatriots from other athletic disciplines on the global stage of the Olympics and, in North and South America, in the regional Pan Am Games.

The Pan Am Games, similar in style and scope to the Olympics, are staged every four years during the year that precedes the Olympic Games. A group of young players represent the United States at the XIV Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo in 2003.

Despite the harsh head and humidity, Alex Bogomolov, Jeff Morrison, Alex Kim, Carly Gullickson, Sarah Taylor and Ansley Cargill garnered four total medals (one silver and three bronze) in the Dominican sun – one medal shy of the American record for medals in Olympic-recognized sports at a Pan American Games competition.

Taylor of Bradenton, Fla., was the most successful medallist from the United States, earning a silver medal in women’s singles. Taylor fell victim to Venezuela’s Milagros Sequera in a hard-fought 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 gold-medal struggle, played in an atmosphere of oppressive heat and humidity, but colorful in its abundance of flag-waving, drum-beating and horn blowing fans.

The 21-year-old was attempting to become the first American woman to win Pan American tennis gold since Hall of Famer Pam Shriver turned a hat trick in singles, doubles and the now-discontinued mixed doubles events at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. Instead, Taylor became the third straight American player to be thwarted by Sequera, the No. 2 player in Venezuela who defeated Gullickson in the quarterfinals and Cargill in the semifinals.

“This event is not about playing for points or playing for money, but something bigger,” said Taylor of her Pan Am Games experience. “It’s about playing for a gold medal and representing your country.”

Cargill’s worked for every ounce of her bronze medal in women’s singles, grinding for nearly two-and-a-half hours in both her round of 16 and quarterfinal victories. After a routine straight-set first round win over Mexico’s Karin Palme, Cargill, from Atlanta, Ga., made a courageous comeback to defeat 2003 NCAA singles finalist from the University of Tennessee Vilmarie Castellvi of Puerto Rico 0-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16. Cargill then posted a two-hour and 23 minute 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Lucia Migliarni of Uruguay in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Cargill simply ran out of steam against Sequera, losing by a 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 margin

Perhaps the most promising prospect of the six-member U.S. team was the youngest and the only one to not win a medal in Santo Domingo. When the 16-year-old Gullickson took to the court on the opening day of play against Daniela Alvarez of Bolivia, she became the youngest American to ever compete in the tennis competition at the Pan American Games since the event began in 1951. After a second-round win over Alana Broderick of Jamaica, Gullickson, the daughter of former Major League Baseball pitcher Bill Gullickson, was defeated in the quarterfinals by eventual gold medallist Sequera.

In doubles, Gullickson and Cargill were defeated one match shy of the medal round - in the quarterfinals of women’s doubles - by Kristina Brandi and Castellvi of Puerto Rico.

In men’s singles, Kim was the stand-out performer, earning a bronze medal and performing the rare feat in tennis of winning seven games in a row in a single set, coming back from 0-5 in the second set to defeat Johnson Garcia of the Dominican Republic 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

Kim nearly had the opportunity to play for gold, but was not able take advantage of several opportunities presented to him by former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios of Chile in the semifinals. Kim held three set points in the first set before falling to Rios 7-6 (9), 7-6 (4).

After both losing in the quarterfinals of men’s singles – one round shy of the medal round - Morrison of Huntington, West Virginia and Bogomolov of Miami, Fla., earned a bronze medal by virtue of reaching the semifinals of men’s doubles.